March 30, 2017
The Grapes of Ziway: Business in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia
Tuscany, Napa Valley, South Africa—you’re thinking of wine right? Well if you haven’t already, you should add one more region to that list: the Central Rift Valley, Ethiopia. Castel Winery is making a name for itself in the global wine industry and for more reasons than just the quality of its beverage. Situated on the […] ...
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March 7, 2017
The ingredients of integrated landscape management: exploring the benefits of watershed restoration in Aba Gerima
Soil erosion had been a source of conflict for the farmers of Aba Gerima. Rains would cause soil to wash downstream, from one farmer’s plot to others, each year and damage crops. When the treatment of Aba Gerima watershed in Ethiopia began in 2012 with construction of physical and biological conservation mechanisms, such as soil […] ...
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March 3, 2017
The ingredients of integrated landscape management: The case of Aba Gerima
I arrived in Aba Gerima just days before planting season began, during an unusual week of rest for the farming community. While my fortunate timing was unintentional, this afforded me the opportunity to speak with over 70 community members over the course of five days. I was in Aba Gerima to conduct research for my […] ...
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February 21, 2017
For all of us – the Yewol Mountains of Ethiopia
Joanna Kane-Potaka
ICRISAT
In the highlands of northern Ethiopia, farming families often live a very basic subsistence lifestyle. In the drought years, which are common, food and water is scarce. Severe soil erosion plagues the Yewol watershed highlands and there are extreme dry periods each year. There was little water management in the past and so water is […] ...
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August 4, 2016
Shared value in supply chains as a step toward landscape management
Catherine Rothacker
EcoAgriculture Partners
Achieving rural development, sustainable agriculture, and environmental conservation goals through integrated landscape management is a complex, long-term investment for stakeholders—how can the private sector, government, and civil society take steps to make this transformational approach a reality and provide benefits to stakeholders in the near term? A collaboration among ...
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May 5, 2016
Protecting Gambella’s hidden treasures requires multi-stakeholder involvement, Part 2
Daniel Wiegant Crespo
Horn of Africa Regional Environment Centre and Network
Toon de Bruyn
Herman Brouwer
Minu Hemmati
With cultures, biodiversity and enterprises that cross political boundaries, multi-stakeholder collaboration is critical to integrated and sustainable development in the Gambella of Ethiopia. Historically, the Gambella landscape, like other parts of the continent, has been characterised by a low level of coordination between different actors and sectors. Development planning di ...
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May 3, 2016
Protecting Gambella’s hidden treasures requires multi-stakeholder involvement, Part 1
Daniel Wiegant Crespo
Horn of Africa Regional Environment Centre and Network
Toon de Bruyn
Herman Brouwer
Minu Hemmati
The Gambella region in western Ethiopia offers a culturally and ecologically unique landscape, which shares much of its characteristics with neighbouring South Sudan. Largely unknown, it is one of the best-preserved, and relatively inaccessible, regions of Ethiopia. The swampy area and limited infrastructure make it ideal for impressive transboundary mammal migrations between ...
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March 5, 2016
Farmers film their homegrown solutions
Katherine Snyder
International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)
Juliet Braslow
In an unused school classroom in the dry, dusty village of Sekoti, Ghana, 11 community members gathered to learn how to make a video. Many of them had never even used a camera before, much less operated a microphone. Participatory video is an empowering and creative process that allows those who understand their local issues best […] ...
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February 10, 2016
In Burundi, seeing the writing in the hillsides means working with farmers
Sara Delaney, Episcopal Relief & Development
Leonidas Niyongabo, Province of the Anglican Church of Burundi Community Development Program
In Burundi, a large community of farmers represents a pool of knowledge that is constantly growing. Research institutions explore different approaches to tapping into this knowledge base and linking their work with observational data from farmers. Farmers in Burundi have a high stake in the viability of seasonal harvests, as they depend on the harvest to […] ...
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February 9, 2016
A Big Network in a Small Country – cooperation between research, church and farmers in Burundi
Sara Delaney, Episcopal Relief & Development
Leonidas Niyongabo, Province of the Anglican Church of Burundi Community Development Program
Wedged between the hills and valleys of Rwanda, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the great Lake Tanganyika, is the small country of Burundi. The density of people in this East African nation is a close second in Africa only to Rwanda, its neighboring country. While its size can be a challenge, it can […] ...
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